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New St. Luke’s Drama (And Delays?!)

OK kids. Here is a surprisingly cogent bit of information I was able to find about the overwhelmingly nebulous St. Luke's retrofit drama:

Ed Lee originally struck a deal with CMPC in March. As part of the deal, St. Luke's would be rebuilt according to state-mandated seismic safety guidelines and remain open for 20 years. Under this agreement, however, St. Luke's could close its doors if the system-wide operating margin drops below 1% for two years in a row.

This "trigger" was originally portrayed as highly unlikely, but in mid-June, Sutter Health/CPMC officials showed the mayor's staff revised projections. These new projections indicated that reaching the trigger was more likely than initially thought, and the mayor was working to revise the deal prior to the July 17 board meeting. Read more…

Now an anonymous whistle-blower has released documents indicating that CMPC may have been planning on taking advantage of this loophole to close St. Luke's, and also pay much less in charity care than originally envisioned.

Supes are POd, and the deal is even more likely to be delayed and modified. A majority of supes–and apparently now the mayor as well–want a contractual agreement to keep St. Luke's open. Several supervisors sent CMPC a letter calling for approvals to be pushed back so the deal can be re-examined. Read more…

No word on what this means for construction. The state deadline to retrofit or rebuild hospitals for seismic safety is 2020 (not 2015), and CMPC was hoping to start construction this fall.